How to add the correct canonical tag with PHP in WordPress

Contents

Why the canonical tag matters for WordPress

The canonical tag (rel=canonical) tells search engines which URL is the authoritative version of a page when multiple URLs can serve the same or similar content. Correct canonicalization prevents duplicate-content issues, consolidates link equity, and helps search engines index the right URL.

WordPress outputs a canonical link by default in many cases, but the default behaviour is not always ideal for every site (paginated content, attachment pages, query parameters, HTTPS/WWW preferences, custom post types, and complex URL structures). This tutorial shows a reliable, extensible PHP implementation you can add to your themes functions.php or as part of a small plugin to output correct canonical tags for common WordPress conditions.

Goals of the implementation

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